Helsinki (21.03.2011 - Juhani Artto) Last year the number of work accidents increased by 5 per cent from 2009. In part, this unwanted development can be explained by the economic upswing that has meant more people in employment and a concomitant increase in overall working hours.
However, there has also been a clear rise in accident frequency. In 2009 there were 28 accidents per one million working hours and in 2010 the vital statistical figure rose to 30. Thus, the accident frequency rose by 4 per cent.
Unfortunately, this backward development cannot be explained by the strong recovery of the construction industry, which belongs to the highest accident frequency industries. In the construction industry the accident frequency rose to 68 accidents per one million working hours. The figure was over 6 per cent higher than in 2009.
In terms of accidents the construction industry is now divided more clearly than in the past into good and bad companies, the Federation of Accident Insurance Institutions reports. According to the Federation, at the good end there are construction companies where the accident frequency is as low as that in office work. At the bad end, on the other hand, accident frequency is tens of times higher than in the good ones.
In 2010 more fatal accidents also occurred compared with the year 2009. The number of fatal accidents rose from 25 to 29.
Despite the negative development, the Finnish safety record remains good when compared internationally, reassures Erkki Auvinen, an occupational safety expert at the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK. The Finnish accident frequency figures indicate that Finland still belongs to the pioneering countries in occupational safety work, Auvinen underlines.